Here's how you can approach strategic decision making differently as an experienced startup professional.

Making better strategic decisions requires seeing the problem as the solution. To do so, filter information through your calendar, agenda, and priorities, i.e., “C.A.P.” This will help slow things down while speeding up clarity, removing clutter, identifying opportunities, as well as detecting blind spots and best solutions. It follows: Calendar: Determine deadlines and resource availability Agenda: Craft agendas over calendar timelines Priorities: Set priorities against core deliverables In effect, C.A.P. is a mechanism to sharpen operations and reveal the problem’s path to resolution. Bottom line, keep your "Thinking C.A.P." on to see when to act on priorities that advance your agenda while saving time and seizing opportunity!

Fire bullets first. I've been through many startup companies and the best lesson I learned was from the book Good to Great by James Collins. The author provides an analogy of your ship facing an enemy ship. You have plenty of bullets, but just one cannon. Fire the bullets first, make sure the targeting is accurate, then fire the cannon for the final blow. Startup professionals need to do the same. Fire the bullets first, get your strategy, operations, and target market down. Then scale. The vision of scaling is always there. However, perfecting the operations at a smaller level will allow scaling with fewer issues.

Data is great but it can also be overwhelming and biased itself. In early stage it seems like the most important data is in the extremes. "What's really working" and "what's really not working" are the key elements to hone in on. Also keep the metrics simple. Having a simple indicator to showcase what success looks like is a lot better than having a ton.

One of the most challenging aspects for a leader is balancing experience, expertise, and metrics when making difficult decisions, especially when they seem to conflict. The temptation to rely solely on intuition can be tactically correct but might miss strategic insights. Taking a few moments to examine data from different angles while trusting your intuition often leads to unforeseen ideas. This brief analysis can unlock new thought patterns and ways of seeing your business. You have the opportunity to make the right decision and expand your mind.

As an experienced startup professional, approach strategic decision-making differently by leveraging your past experiences and insights. Start with data-driven analysis, using metrics and key performance indicators to inform your decisions. Embrace a customer-centric approach, prioritizing feedback and needs from your customer base. Foster a culture of innovation and adaptability within your team, encouraging creative solutions and flexibility. Conduct regular risk assessments to anticipate potential challenges and develop contingency plans. Utilize your network for diverse perspectives and advice. Finally, focus on long-term vision while remaining agile, balancing immediate goals with future growth and scalability.

Diverse teams bring together individuals with unique experiences, skills, and knowledge. This diversity of thought leads to more creative problem-solving and the generation of novel ideas. By tapping into the diverse perspectives of team members, startups can develop innovative products and services that cater to a wider range of customers.

Critical thinking and skilled moderation are powerful tools for fostering diversity of thought. Together, they unlock the potential of every mind in your organization, regardless of seniority. We all know that the best ideas don't always come from the most senior people. By combining the insights of everyone on your team, you honor each individual, regardless of background, creating an amazing workplace with a cohesive and magnetic culture.

Iterate quickly and be ready to pivot when reality doesn't match your hypotheses. It is easy to fall in love with an idea but the data or external feedback tells you otherwise. Value speed over thoroughness.

Rapid continual improvement not only produces great results but also fosters amazing team cohesion. It unlocks the very best work in every team member when they see their efforts make an immediate impact, greatly improving engagement and commitment. This approach drives traction and achieves results that other organizations can only dream of.

Agility and speed are key -- however, it requires a fine balancing act between agile/speed vs. thoroughness/completeness. When reality/data doesn't support the strategy the most important analysis is determining whether it's the strategy that needs adjustment or the execution that needs work. Working with many clients as a growth advisor I've seen many cases where a strategic pivot is NOT the solution, rather a more effective/efficient execution is required.

Reaching out to both trusted contacts and new acquaintances offers an incredible opportunity to gain fresh perspectives and ideas that aren't possible from a position of comfort. While it's hard work, combining completely new viewpoints with those from familiar sources, whether predictable or not, results in a fantastic array of new thinking.

Just such a true statement - not much else needs to be added. One suggestion - don't limit your outreach for feedback to just those in your industry/market or similar businesses, sometimes the best idea comes from adapting an approach / concept / idea from a completely different sector.

I think that forming strong relationships with other people in your sector is very important. Networking obviously is the drive of every business. The stronger your network of business people - the more chance you have for success. I like to create a think tank group when ever I start a new venture - and that group meets once a week to go over ideas and how to implament those ideas and strategies. It has worked really well for me in the past

More often than not, excess risk is a failure to learn. In business and life, you’re either succeeding forward or failing to learn. Money follows value creation, which stems from a combination of hard work, improvements, and novel ideas. Being a great steward of what brought you success, while committing to continual learning with an open mind, results in material traction and progress over time.

Risk is inevitable in the game, so you want to take risks with asymmetric rewards as much as possible. The key to getting to this is first getting good at assessing the true risk of major decisions. Often certain factors, such as time allotment, are often miscalculated. Since time is money people underestimate how much they burn into certain tasks that feel low risk but don't move the needle much. Getting clear on actual resource investment (time, capital, opportunity cost) is a key element on actually balancing risk.

One thing we've learned as a continual learning source is our customers (or potential customers)! Learning their pain points or feedback on product iterations is invaluable. This is even more important for startups still looking for PMF. Getting one or more design partners is helpful!

It is also important to make decisions and move forward as a team. It's not about who's right or wrong. If the move is right, how do you build upon it. If the move is wrong, what can be learned from it to take forward and try again.